I am Debra Satz, co-host of the ‘Philosophy Talk’ radio show and author
of ‘Why Some Things Should Not be For Sale: The Moral Limits of
Markets’. Ask me anything about political philosophy!
Abstract
I’m Debra Satz, the Marta Sutton Weeks Professor of Philosophy at
Stanford University and co-host of the Philosophy Talk radio program. I
grew up in the Bronx, and was the first of my family to go to college.
From there, I graduated from City College of New York and received my
PhD from M.I.T. where – after toying with the idea of writing on the
philosophy of logic – I wrote a dissertation focusing on Marx’s theory
of social progress. Although I have traveled far from where I began, my
experiences growing up in the Bronx continue to influence my work and
thought. My philosophical work has been broadly concerned with the
economic preconditions for a democratic society of equals. But rather
than approaching this question at a very high level of abstraction, I
have focused on the ethics behind the creation and operation of
particular markets. Markets in the abstract are models of freedom and
equality. Freedom because each has the choice to enter into, or refrain
from entering, any particular exchange. Moreover, because each of us is
linked through countless others, no one is under the thumb of any
particular person. This latter point also underwrites our equality. In
theory, neither is dependent on the other and each has the right to
refuse a deal which we view as unfair. But, in reality, many markets
depart very far from that theory. Some markets involve agents who are
asymmetrically situated: One person desperately needs a good that only
the other has (think of credit markets in the developing world); or, one
person has relevant knowledge that another person lacks (think of the
market for used cars). Moreover, some markets involve risks that fall on
others besides the transacting agent (think of exchanges that generate
pollution); or markets where others are transacting on our behalf (think
of child labor markets where parents transact on behalf of their
children, or governments where dictators transact debt on behalf of
their populations). My book, Why Some Things Should Not be For Sale: The
Moral Limits of Markets develops a theory that distinguishes between
ordinary markets that resemble abstract markets and what I call noxious
markets. Noxious markets are characterized along four parameters: weak
agency, background vulnerability and inequality of the transacting
agents, harms to individuals, and harms to society. My book examines
markets in body parts, commercial surrogacy, child labor and
prostitution. Importantly, I argue that the fact that a market is
noxious does not entail the conclusion that we should ban it. It may be
possible to increase agency (by giving parties better information) or
address third party harms through regulation. But a message of my work,
which resonates with a long tradition of political economy (where
figures such as Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Karl Marx and RH Tawney are
central) is that not all markets are the same. I also have interests in
the distribution of educational opportunities, where I have argued that
the sharp divide policy makers and philosophers draw between adequacy
approaches and equality approaches is overdrawn. A theory of
distributing educational opportunity that is adequate for a democratic
society will have strong egalitarian elements. In addition to pursuing
my interests in education (which was my path out of poverty), I am
writing a paper which examines the role of the state’s distribution of
in kind goods (such as health care) for a democratic society of equals.
I look forward to discussing my work with you on reddit! Links of
Interest: My book: Why Some Things Should Not be For Sale: The Moral
Limits of Markets. Thanks to OUP can purchase it 30% off from their
site with promocode AAFLYG6. A newer co-authored book dealing with the
relations between ethics and economics: Economic Analysis, Moral
Philosophy and Public Policy, Third Edition My Stanford Encyclopedia
Article on Feminist Perspectives on Reproduction and the Family My
Ethics article “Equality, Adequacy and Education for Citizenship” My
class day speech at Stanford University on the Moral Limits of Markets
The Philosophy Talk radio program which I co-host